MUMBAI: San Francisco Opera has tied-up with The Bigger Picture, a distributor of digital movies, to screen their performances in cinemas. The opera said they have agreed to a world-wide distribution of six operas per year, beginning in early March 2008. This is the first time that any opera company will screen performances in the Hollywood feature film quality digital cinema format.

The Bigger Picture co-president Jonathan Dern said, “It (operas on theatres) enables theaters to become cultural centers for their communities, bringing audiences together to enjoy entertainment experiences previously limited to specific live venues.” The Bigger Picture will be distributing the operas through its network of digital cinema-equipped theater partners.

The initial Digital Cinema Program will feature four showings each of Puccini’s La Rondine ; Saint-Saens’ Samson and Delilah; Mozart’s The Magic Flute; Mozart’s Don Giovanni; Appomattox, a new opera by Philip Glass and Christopher; and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly